Microsoft India has reportedly announced two initiatives for AI startups in India. The tech giant unveiled the second iteration of the Microsoft AI Innovate initiative and will introduce its second group.
Furthermore, Microsoft will organize a hackathon for startups to offer support and resources to developers for creating digital solutions that foster social entrepreneurship, business innovation, and sustainability.
The second iteration of Microsoft AI Innovate is inviting nominations from SaaS (software-as-a-service) companies whose core services or applications are developed using AI (artificial intelligence) technologies.
In a statement, Microsoft stated that the initiative, supported by SaaS Insider, is developed to help startups upscale their operations, build industry expertise, and drive greater innovation.
During the ten-week program, startups will collaborate with Microsoft’s product and engineering teams to develop their AI models. Moreover, they can work on meaningful scenarios with experts from Microsoft and receive skilling and mentorship opportunities.
Microsoft revealed that the selected companies will receive OpenAI credits and preview, AI masterclasses by experts, access to technology and industry deep-dive sessions, mentoring by renowned industry leaders and startup founders, and certification and skilling opportunities.
The first group of 16 startups from the manufacturing, logistics, and fintech sectors graduated a month ago.
The hackathon, conducted in association with Techgig, will invite teams to convert their ideas into prototypes that are developed on Microsoft Azure. It added that the solutions are developed to solve issues around sustainability, social entrepreneurship, and business innovation.
Additionally, the solutions can use top-class tools, open-source frameworks, and languages that provide collaboration, security, and flexibility of the trusted cloud platform.
Startups will be provided with Azure masterclasses as well as hands-on training in technologies like Kubernetes, Serverless, Data Fundamentals, Github, Azure AI & ML, and Java & .NET.
The top 100 shortlisted companies will get Azure credits to develop their prototype on Azure. The top three teams will be awarded cash prizes whereas the top 25 companies will qualify to join the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub.
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